The invention is a detector that is more particularly described as a Christiansen effect detector.
In the prior art, there are known methods for using light and the principles of optics for determining differences between two liquids and variations if any of the composition of a liquid. It is known that automatic differential recording systems have been built utilizing photometric means for determining any difference between the refractive indices of two liquids.
These prior systems may be used as detectors in chromatography where a sensitive reading must be made from a sample having a very small volume. The result of the reading must be reproducible when a similar sample is run. Complex prior apparatus, which can provide sufficient sensitivity and can reproduce sample results adequately, is expensive to build.